Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

sav_606_rebels

Hello all -

A little confused by the East Coast website currently - the normal site I use to buy tickets between Horsham and Hull.

I need a single, Wednesday 26th January after 5pm from Horsham to Hull.
I have paid as little as £14.95 for this in advance before. However, there are no fares anywhere near this, and I'm booking much earlier than I usually do!? Surely the cheapest tickets are released first and then the prices slowly increase towards the date of travel.

I saw the East Coast offer of £8 singles on East Coast trains only for that date, but it seems cheaper (when adding the single accross London, and then from Doncaster to Hull) to buy a direct ticket, rather than splitting.

Can anyone find a cheaper option that the £28.95 currently?

dzug1

sav_606_rebels wrote: »

Hello all -

A little confused by the East Coast website currently - the normal site I use to buy tickets between Horsham and Hull.

I need a single, Wednesday 26th January after 5pm from Horsham to Hull.
I have paid as little as £14.95 for this in advance before. However, there are no fares anywhere near this, and I'm booking much earlier than I usually do!? Surely the cheapest tickets are released first and then the prices slowly increase towards the date of travel.

I saw the East Coast offer of £8 singles on East Coast trains only for that date, but it seems cheaper (when adding the single accross London, and then from Doncaster to Hull) to buy a direct ticket, rather than splitting.

Can anyone find a cheaper option that the £28.95 currently?

£14.95 is no longer an available fare on that route - £29.50 before any East Coast discount is the cheapest advance fare

A couple of thoughts -

Have you checked out Southern's £3.75 single from Horsham to Victoria? Available currently on the 1652 and 1722 departures and several others - last 1830.

Have you checked out Hull trains? (£9 fare available on 2030 from KX)

I make that £16.75 with tube, £14.75 if you take the bus. Maybe slightly more if TfL put their prices up in January

Tinks74

If I am travelling from Manchester (Victoria) to St Helens Junction I know can use my GMPTE Traincard (£78pm) which covers the GMPTE area and pay from Patricroft onwards, what I have just learned is that Merseyrail have a Railpass split into zones, St Helens Junction is in zone A1 which is next to the GMPTE area (£44.10 pm) = £122.10 pm.
For comparison the monthly season ticket from St Helens Junction to Manchester = £149.10 pm.

My query is would the Traincard and Railpass tickets cover me for the entire journey?
Or is there an issue with the journey between Newton Le Willows and Patricroft in the middle of the route, being the last/first stations for both regions?

Cheers
T

sav_606_rebels

dzug1 wrote: »

£14.95 is no longer an available fare on that route - £29.50 before any East Coast discount is the cheapest advance fare

A couple of thoughts -

Have you checked out Southern's £3.75 single from Horsham to Victoria? Available currently on the 1652 and 1722 departures and several others - last 1830.

Have you checked out Hull trains? (£9 fare available on 2030 from KX)

I make that £16.75 with tube, £14.75 if you take the bus. Maybe slightly more if TfL put their prices up in January

Thanks so much, thats brilliant!! I could rant and rave for years about the price of train tickets. it really is absurd!

Cletus1970

I am booked on the following trains Saturday 8th January:-

07.45 Dover Priory - Victoria, then 10.20 Euston to Manchester Piccadilly.

Returning 18.55 Manchester Piccadilly - Euston, then 22.12 St Pancras - Dover Priory.

So, my basic question is, would I be able to get on the 08.44 Dover Priory - St Pancras to save time without having to pay extra??
Is there any way ticket inspectors can tell from the information on the ticket?

My outward ticket states: Route - +VWC & connections. Validity - Booked train only.
My return ticket states: Route - +VWC & connections. Validity - as advertised
Neither ticket mentions whether on High Speed service or not.

Livingthedream

Cletus1970 wrote: »

So, my basic question is, would I be able to get on the 08.44 Dover Priory - St Pancras to save time without having to pay extra??
Is there any way ticket inspectors can tell from the information on the ticket?

Normally I would say Yes, however 'High Speed' via Ashford Int is a bizarre service with lots of strange restrictions. IIRC there's one with reference to 'Peak time connections in and out of London'

Edit: Just seen your post on UK rail, so as you travelling on the Saturday that restriction doesn't apply.

[Deleted User]

hi there i am trying to travel from fareham to newport in gwent next tues 21st dec
there is me and 3 children going.

what i need to know is
a) can i buy the railcard at the station tomorrow so i can book online at the cheaper prices ?
b) a lot of the websites advertise plusbus newport , which would mean for an extra £5 or so we could get the bus for the last few miles of the journey .
however , when trying to buy these tickets , there is no option to include the plusbus :mad:

am i doing it wrong or can't i have them on the cheapest fares or something ???
getting very frustrated as i need to book asap , hope someone can please help me before i end up pulling all my hair out lol !!

wealdroam

mummyof5 wrote: »

hi there i am trying to travel from fareham to newport in gwent next tues 21st dec
there is me and 3 children going.

what i need to know is
a) can i buy the railcard at the station tomorrow so i can book online at the cheaper prices ?
b) a lot of the websites advertise plusbus newport , which would mean for an extra £5 or so we could get the bus for the last few miles of the journey .
however , when trying to buy these tickets , there is no option to include the plusbus :mad:

am i doing it wrong or can't i have them on the cheapest fares or something ???
getting very frustrated as i need to book asap , hope someone can please help me before i end up pulling all my hair out lol !!

Firstly, you can book railcard discounted tickets online before you get the railcard.

You can get the railcard at a station anytime before travelling.

You can buy Advance Singles at the station too if you like, but buy them as soon as possible as the cheaper ones go quickly.

Sorry, I don't know anything about plusbus.

laird

PlusBus is an excess fare so you can buy that either with your ticket or when you get to the station (sometimes even from the train manager).
In other words don't worry if you can't buy the PlusBus as part of the first transaction, it will be available at the same price on the day.

Most of the railway company websites sell plus bus as an add on later in the purchasing process (often it is a tick box to say you want to add plus bus for £x).

dzug1

First Great Western certainly include Plusbus as an addon early in the booking process. For Fareham as well as Newport if that helps.